Kyle Francisco Comic Reviews

This definitely stands out as the best issue of A+X so far.

This is a great comic for people who miss the old, briefs-outside-pants Big Blue. You should do yourself a favor and get this issue. It's good enough to make me want to track down the first two issues.

All-New X-Men is off to a slow start, sure, but from the looks of it, it's going to be a smooth ride. Come for the premise, stay for the art, and look forward to getting to the destination without having to spend 40 minutes exchanging monosyllabic responses and repeated sentences about why Cyclops is being a jerk and Wolverine is being a hypocrite.

Two issues in and All-New X-Men remains a strong, solid title in the Marvel NOW! roster. You definitely should be picking up this book regularly.

While not as interesting or action-packed as the last two issues, this week's All-New X-Men serves as both a filler story and a platform to set up the confrontation between the two Cyclopses in the next installment.

The book continues to showcase Stuart Immonen's strong art, set against Bendis's usual talking heads jibber-jabber. It makes me want to read the old issues of Ultimate Spider-Man or New Avengers with Bendis and Immonen just to see how this book holds up against their older collaborations.

It's a relatively quiet issue, setting up the next storyline with the introduction of Mystique into the mix. Can't wait to see how that plays out. All-New X-Men remains consistent in quality, and the change in artists doesn't affect the book negatively in any way. I'm looking forward to reading the next issue.

Pick this book up mainly for the art. If you're not THAT sold on the art, though, wait for the trade. Or, I dunno, ask your friends to give you a detailed summary of what happened, or something like that.

Amazing Spider-Man #698 is brilliant and terrifying. I sincerely hope Slott does not drop the ball on this one, because if the first part alone is any indication, this is definitely going to be on my "greatest Spider-Man stories ever" list.

I definitely won't be picking up Morbius in January. However, for people who will be, this is a good place to start if you don't want to dig through old issues of Legion of Monsters or the first volume of the Morbius ongoing from the '90s. This is probably Marvel's delayed answer to DC's I, Vampire title, which was launched during its New 52 company-wide reboot.

It looks like Slott is saving all the real action for Amazing Spider-Man #700. This week's issue serves its purpose well: it explains a few things, sets up a few others, and completely creeps us out with a mental image that no Superior bleaching can ever hope to erase.

This is good stuff. A thrilling story coupled with gorgeous art can only mean a comic book well worth every peso…and an ongoing definitely worth following. I'm definitely answering the call - you should, too, your feelings about AvX notwithstanding.

This title continues to impress. Pick this up - you'll be missing out on a great story if you don't.

I'm expecting the roster to grow in the coming months, but for now, the first issue of Avengers World seems to promise epic adventures on a global scale, and it looks like the writing and art are more than enough to give this thing legs and ensure that it'll succeed in doing what it has set out to do.

I'm telling you now, this is required reading if you're a Spider-Man fan or if you're on board for January's Superior Spider-Man. Buy it " Buy it, buy it, buy it.

It's a solid read " nothing outstanding or extraordinary, but definitely worth following. I still don't buy how Otto-Peter talked his way out of a mind-scan by channeling Peter. Or maybe it's just my bias talking, I don't know. Whatever.

The plot continues to thicken as the threat of the Joker's re-emergence becomes even greater than Batman and his family ever thought was possible. Definitely looking forward to the next issue.

Hell, Hush was better than this, and that story wasn't even close to excellent.

Buy this book. Not only will you get a well-written conclusion and an upgrade of sorts for a previously D-lister villain, this book will also answer the question "What do Wolverine and Doc Ock have in common?"

Fraction and Allred did a great job with the first issue. FF just might be one of the biggest sleeper hits out of Marvel's NOW! initiative. I'm pretty sure that our old Fantastic Four won't be back after four minutes, and I can't wait to see this ragtag team led by a reluctant Scott Lang squirm, fidget…and step up.

Unfortunately, the process of introducing each character one by one (with commentary from Kid Omega, of course) coupled with the rather forced "invasion" of Thanos's forces makes the book a bit hard to swallow as a whole. I wouldn't call it a must-have, per se. If you like Wolverine, Hank Pym, or any of the Marvel young heroes, you might want to consider picking this up. Otherwise, stick to the main Infinity title and other tie-ins if you're just following the event.

The series has been one wild ride so far, and this issue's cliffhanger adds an air of mystery that really makes you look forward to reading the next one. If you miss Peter Parker as much as I do, then this is certainly the book for you. The title of this run of Marvel Knights Spider-Man promises "99 Problems"" and trust me, quality ain't one.

The issue ends with a rather interesting cliffhanger " I'm looking forward to the resolution partly because I want to see if there's a perfectly normal ending waiting for poor Spidey next issue. After all, the dude has been drugged, violently thrown off a plane, blasted out of a submarine, and hunted in the jungle, among others, all over the course of four issues.

Despite being relatively quiet in as far as hype is concerned,Minimum Carnage proved to be a fun-filled ride. While a TPB of the collected issues involved in this crossover would no doubt be released in the next few months,Omega is worth picking up, especially if you have the other issues that tie in withMinimum Carnage.

I wouldn't call it spectacular, but if you're a fan of the character, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's a nice appetizer before the Joker pops up in Dick's book.

Overall, it's an entertaining read " a good distraction before major events start to unfold the title, specifically regarding Nightwing fate in Forever Evil. If you're enjoying Zero Year as a whole, it wouldn't hurt to pick up this book.

I'm not sure if I want this comic book to be able to finally catch up with the current goings-on in the DCU, or if I'm ready to find out if Dick survives his terrible ordeal at the hands of the Crime Syndicate of America or not. I'm sure about one thing, though " the word "fill-in" is all over Nightwing #27 like the smell of fish on the Penguin.

All in all, Nova #100 is a fun-filled rocket ship, ready to take you on an epic journey to the next hundredth-issue landmark of everyone's favorite bucket-headed space buccaneer.

Yost and Pham deliver yet another solid issue of Scarlet Spider, and while I admit I still miss Ryan Stegman on this title (though I'm glad he's on Superior Spider-Man), this title remains one of the best books Marvel has on the shelves these days.

Unfortunately, the comic's bland attempts at dark humor, lack of emotional gravity, and somewhat forced inclusion of (surprise, surprise) Superior Spider-Man (where he is used as more of a handy, albeit unnecessary, vessel for a recap than an actual participant in this "event") make it somewhat boring and dragging.

"Dark and weird" indeed. Here's to the rise of the new, Superior Spider-Man… and here's to his inevitable fall, which I will patiently and eagerly wait for.

I enjoyed this issue immensely, partly out of nostalgia, and partly because it was well-written and had practically no dragging moments. Slott's also managed to capture the sarcastic and sometimes self-deprecating sense of humor that fans loved so much about Miguel

Admittedly, there was a lot more fun and action in the story arc with Spider-Man 2099. However, I'm not worried at all about this slight dip in overall impact " we're getting that long-awaited Venom crossover next issue, and I think things are finally falling into place for Doc Ock's comeuppance. Let's just hope Peter won't have too much of a hard time putting the pieces of his life back together after all of this.

While this issue was a good read (and I'll admit that the prospect of seeing Flash-Venom fighting this Superior impostor is an utterly appealing one), the Superior ride is becoming more and more tiresome with each issue. I'm kind of getting sick of issue after issue of MINOR PLOT DEVELOPMENT THAT PLANTS SEEDS FOR A MAJOR EVENT THAT WILL SHAKE THE WALL-CRAWLER'S WORLD TO ITS VERY CORE, and I miss the old days when I could just grab a comic book and read it without needing to pay attention to "seeded plot elements" like a dog owner trying to spot fleas in fur. Plus, I want Peter back, just so he could do damage control already. I swear, this stuff's really getting out of hand now, and maaaaaybe that's a good thing, as far as what Slott's trying to go for with this book is concerned.

It definitely looks like the Superior Spider-Man will have his hands full, and with the Goblin Nation looming on the horizon, Otto Octavius might need some ghostly intervention to make it out with his dignity " and life " intact.

There are quite a few twists and surprises in this issue that I won't spoil. It's definitely worth your money " in fact, I highly suggest going for all of the Superior Spider-Man issues from now until issue #31.

It's not a bad start " there's enough to look forward to in the next few issues. Let's wait and see how Peter Parker makes it out of this one.

I've done my best to not spend a single cent on any comic books featuring Spock"but this book is so good that it might make me lift my self-imposed ban.

Overall, it's a decent book, and the Paolo Rivera-illustrated cover alone makes it well worth purchasing.

There's a lot of talking (mostly Superior Spider-Man's internal monologue), which kind of bogs down the issue a bit. The art's okay " a bit messy in some scenes, a bit too plain and boring in sequences that should be dynamic and full of energy, but not terrible. The story also seems to go out of its way to make Octavius more likeable, which is pretty hard to swallow, and a bit out of character for the normally arrogant Superior Spidey.

Now, I'm not really a fan of Chris Bachalo's art. It has always been too cluttered and messy for my tastes. Here, however, his work shines. The Bendis-Bachalo partnership works in the sense that Bachalo's hyper-energetic penciling style matches Bendis's lengthy exposition. His linework and fondness for detail help keep Bendis's dialogue from becoming stale and boring. It works about as well as Greg Capullo's pencils work for Scott Snyder's scripts over in Batman.

I never thought a Venom book would reach 31 issues, but, well, here we are. As far as I'm concerned, this title has earned it.